Engleberts in Missouri [miz-er-ree]

We lived in Green Bay for 8 years. For quite a few of those years we lived on Bellevue street in a duplex. When we moved in the other side of the duplex was occupied by a couple of guys. They were pretty quiet and kept to themselves. After a year or so they moved out and we wondered if we’d get some neighbors who would be a little more friendly. We hit the jackpot. Todd and Chris moved in next door -they were fun and friendly and we seemed to hit it off right away.

Although they were a few years younger than us (and had a whole lot less children), we not only liked them as a couple, we each seemed to like our counterparts as well. Steve and Todd really hit it off and Chris and I liked each other as well. That doesn’t happen all that often. Usually there is one half of the foursome that really enjoy each other’s company and the other half are just so-so.

Chris and I had both just found out that we were pregnant shortly before they moved in. She was expecting her first child and I was expecting my first child…in a while. Actually I was pregnant with Violet, who was number 6, but she was quite a surprise. It felt like I was starting from scratch having completely exited the baby/toddler/completely needy stages of childrearing (Jon was already 7, completely housebroken and in school).

Anyway, we were both pregnant and had due dates so close to each other that you would have thought Steve and Todd had coordinated the events. It was the first time I ever had a pregnancy-buddy and I think that helped us bond in a special way.

Our children were born a week apart (Chris had a little boy named Ian) and they played together from infancy on. In fact, Ian was the first boy Violet ever “kissed”.

Eventually we moved to the house on Chicago street and they moved to a house in DePere. We weren’t neighbors any more but the friendship continued. Chris had another child (a girl) and I, thankfully, did not. We rode our motorcycles through the streets of Green Bay. We had barbecues and get-togethers. Then we moved to Missouri.

We still chat frequently but we don’t get to see Chris & Todd very often at all. On our trip to Green Bay we tried to hook up with them for a visit. They recently moved up to Door County and opened a new restaurant, The Chef’s Hat.

Steve, Violet and I headed up to Ephraim for the day. In all the time we lived in Green Bay I had never been to Door County or the upper peninsula. The upper peninsula of Wisconsin has the Green Bay on one side and Lake Michigan on the other side.

It was gorgeous! We spent most of the day sitting in the outdoor seating area enjoying the beautiful view and visiting with Chris and Todd. The weather was gorgeous and I couldn’t get over how beautiful the area was. Ephraim sits on the Bay side of the peninsula. Of course, everyone from Green Bay believes that to be the superior to the Lake side. Ephraim has a very small town feeling with a slow and friendly pace. People from the community stopped by to say a word or two or waved when they passed. The guy who operated the carriage rides spoke every time he passed the restaurant. It was kind of like a very. punctuated. conversation.

Luckily, Violet picked up her friendship with Ian easily so they entertained each other while we ignored them in favor of drinks and adult conversation. The day was so fun and relaxing that I didn’t want to leave. In fact, I’ve made Steve promise that if we ever move back to Green Bay, we’ll head up to Door County often. I’d love to have a little vacation cottage there and look at all that water that’s just perfect for jet-skiing!

Writing about plans for a fancy dinner party yesterday reminded me that I haven’t shared any pictures or stories from our vacation yet.

Ever since Violet got a Felicity doll at Christmas, she’s been hoping to visit American Girl Place. There are 3 of them- one in Los Angeles, one in New York and the original in Chicago. Our trip to Green Bay this summer had us traveling right through Chicago. How convenient!

After dropping off the guys at the hotel and changing into our fancy dresses and hats, Violet and I caught a cab to downtown Chicago. Violet was so excited about visiting American Girl Place that I was a little nervous it wouldn’t measure up to her expectations. But I shouldn’t have worried, it definitely didn’t disappoint us.

American Girl Place is the Taj Mahal of Dolldom - sort of a combination of store and theme park. There were three floors of American Girl dolls, clothes, furniture, and other accessories. The Chicago store has displays for each historical doll that portray scenes from every day life in that time period. There was also a huge Girl of Today section as well as mountains of Just Like Me and Bitty Baby displays.

Violet spent a lot of time trying to decide exactly what Felicity items to spend her money on. After waffling back and forth over whether she should get several smaller items like outfits or just one big item, she finally decided to go for the Tilt-Top Table and Chairs. She received the tea set as a gift for her birthday and has been longing for the table and chairs ever since. Now we’re thinking Felicity looks a little lonely sitting at the table by herself and needs her friend Elizabeth to keep her company.

In addition to all of the browsing and shopping, we also stopped by the Doll Hospital and the Doll Hair Salon. Felicity isn’t hurt or feeling under the weather but she was up for a special new hairdo. The doll salon has a menu of different hairstyles to choose from - Violet selected a stylish Double-Flip-Twist and the hairstylist got to work. She buckled Felicity into a tiny, doll-sized salon chair and whipped a cape around her shoulders to protect her clothes and then proceeded to spritz, comb, twist and curl Felicity’s hair into shape.

After Felicity’s hair appointment, we headed to the American Girl cafe for afternoon tea. The cafe is very girly-girly with its pink, black and white decor and was a perfect setting for a mom-daughter tea party. The tables are beautifully set and decorated. One neat thing was the little boxes of Table Talk topics. Violet and I alternated asking each other questions and chatting about our answers. Even Felicity got to join in the tea party in her own “Treat Seat” - small doll chairs that hook onto the table. The waiter even served her with her own miniature tea cup and saucer.

The tea itself consisted of 3 courses of delicious tea treats served on fancy tiered serving dishes. Many of the treats had names related to the dolls like Kit’s Garden Party Vegetable Sandwiches, Kirsten’s Farm Fresh Egg Salad and Felicity’s Patriotic Roasted Turkey and Cranberry Sandwiches. Violet’s favorite was the Molly’s Victory Garden Chocolate Mousse Flowerpot which were really cute. I liked the chocolate teacups filled with Raspberry creme.

After tea, Violet and I wandered back downstairs to look around a little more and then headed out to catch a cab back to the hotel. Imagine our surprise when Steve and Jon met us outside the store. They had walked from the hotel down the lakefront and over to the downtown shopping district. Quite a long walk! At first I thought they wanted us to walk home with them (can you say heels!?!), but they were happy to share a cab ride back to the hotel with us.

Violet and I had a wonderful time and can’t wait to go back. Next time we hope to catch a show in the theater and hopefully *fingers crossed* April and Aunt Laura will get to go with us.

Life is whittling away at Summer of Fun 2007 already. The Iris show was canceled due to bad weather. Something about the heavy rains and winds damaging the blooms. Then, I find out the Joplin Air Show (Airfest) is scheduled to begin the Friday we leave for vacation. I thought at first we’d just go during the day on Friday - since we’re not leaving until around 6ish Friday evening. But then I realized that was just stupid.

I am always harried on the day we leave for vacation, trying to get last minute packing, house cleaning and whatnot completed. Scheduling a fun outing for the same day is like deliberately hitting myself in the head with a hammer. Not to mention the morning of that day is already booked with the soccer skills clinic that Violet will be going to this summer.

Two ideas shot down - can we make it 3?

I got a bike for Mother’s day and have taken a couple of bike rides with Violet. I’m thinking that the Tour de Cure is probably going to be more like the Tour de Torture. Holy cripes - my thighs. They burn. So when Steve said he thought Violet would have a hard time making even the the shortest route (14.5 miles) because her bike doesn’t have any gears and the course is kind of hilly, I just nodded my head in agreement “Yeah, hilly, Violet, maybe not a great idea, yeah.” My bike has gears but that doesn’t seem to help a whole lot - I mean you still have to pedal.

We added a couple more items to the Summer of Fun list - that way even though we’ve had to rule out some events because of conflicts (and bad thighs), we still have a shot at making the summer more than half fun. There are 82 days between the last day of school this year and the first day of school for next year - we need to do at least 42 of the fun things on our list. You’ll know we’re getting desperate when you see a trip to the Suds-Yer-Duds Laundromat on the list.

So, since we were already in Springfield on Saturday, and there was no pressing need to hurry home, the kids and I decided to start our Summer of Fun a weekend early. We went to Wonders of Wildlife at the National Fish and Wildlife Museum and Aquarium. Definitely worth a visit but I’ll let Violet tell you about it. She’s working on the first entry in her “Summer Scrapbook” soon to be online.

We also went to the Bass Pro Shop which is huge! You could spend an entire day wandering around in there. The kids particularly liked the boats. Extolling the virtues of owning a boat, talking about how a boat would only cost as much as a new van, dreaming about all the fun they could have if we owned a boat and finally begging for a boat took up much of the remainder of the afternoon.

Steve and I aren’t so keen on the idea of buying a boat that costs as much as a new van. We’ve seen what kids do to vehicles - no need to cause Steve’s blood pressure to sky rocket by posting pictures of those catastrophes.

I’m pretty sure the boat wouldn’t fair much better. I can just imagine one of the kids breaking something and then trying to piece it back together so they don’t get in trouble, something they think is no big deal but causes the boat to sink once we’re out on the water. I’m thinking the outcome of that would be much worse than someone tumbling off an ottoman unexpectedly because the leg has been broken by “Not Me”. Good times.

Once upon a time, in a small town far far from here, a mother and her 6 children would spend the summer exploring the city. Once a week, the mother would come home early from work, pack up a snack or lunch and away they would go to have some fun together.

Sometimes they would pile into the family van if their destination was too far away. But more often than not, the mom and her children would hop on their bikes and pedal their way around Green Bay. They were quite a sight. The mom with a little toddler in a seat on the back of her bike, followed by 5 kids on their bikes all pedaling in a row. The mom was happy and relaxed. The children had many happy times and lovely childhood memories.

Then one day the family moved to another town. The mother, her new job much more demanding and much less flexible than the old job, worked way too many hours to be able to take her children on picnics or to the wildlife sanctuary or the submarine museum. “Next year,” she promised herself “Next year I’ll have everything running smoothly at work, things will be better and I’ll be able to take an afternoon or two off to spend with the children.”

Then the next summer came and went. The mother still worked too many hours and didn’t have time to take her children on lots of silly little outings during the summer. Nothing had changed. If anything, the mother was working more than ever. Gradually, the mother stopped thinking about making plans for fun little day trips with the kids. The children got older and many of them had jobs of their own. Everyone was much too busy to have fun.

Then one day, the mother woke up and said “This is no way to live.” After many long discussions with the father, she quit her job. “Now, life will be better.” But strangely, life didn’t magically get better. Sure she was home all the time, but the mother wasn’t happy and relaxed. “Where has all the fun and enjoyment of life gone?” the mother wondered.

Then she realized that fun, enjoyment and happy memories don’t just happen - you have to make them. The mother was determined to bring the joy back. Some of her children had grown up and moved away, but there were still children to enjoy.

As she began to make a list of wonderful places to visit and fun things do this summer, the mother began to smile. “Mommy, why are you so happy?” the littlest one asked. “Oh Violet, the places we will go…” the mother began. The little girl’s eyes lit up with joy as the mother began to describe the fun times that were being planned.

The Beginning…